The risk of a community-acquired C difficile infection was 7-fold higher for outpatients with antibiotic exposure.
Antibiotic exposure is known to raise the risk of
One study, presented at the
Primary care visits and non-visit antibiotic prescriptions from 2018-2019 were included in the study. Investigators categorized patient characteristics, clinical diagnoses, and antibiotics prescribed for each encounter. They estimated the unadjusted odds ratio of outpatient antibiotics for CA-CDI, and used logistic regression to adjust for additional risk factors.
The final cohort included 884787 patients with clinic visits that fulfilled study criteria. Of these participants, 3533 were prescribed antibiotics and 5 (0.14%) developed CA-CDI. Of the 81254 patients who were not prescribed antibiotics, 15 (0.02%) developed CA-CDI. After adjusting for patient age and comorbidities, the odds ratio of CA-CDI after outpatient antibiotic prescription remained statistically significant.
These findings were presented by Robin Jump, MD, PhD, who concluded that although CA-CDI episodes were infrequent, the odds of CA-CDI were 7-fold higher in outpatients with antibiotic exposure than those without. “Antibiotic stewardship interventions that emphasize adverse events as a result of care provided in the outpatient setting, rather than as events limited to acute care settings, may mitigate CDI risk,” the study authors concluded.
The study, In Veteran Outpatients, Antibiotics Remain Significant Risk Factor for Community-Acquired Clostridiodes difficile Infection,” was presented on April 12 during the
